Community award given to ailing former councilman

Former Rogers City Councilman Dennis ?Sam? Felax was honored Saturday with a Community Achievement Award. The award is given to former elected city officials who continue to serve the community. Felax last served the city council in 1998, but has remained active since moving just outside of the city limits as a member of the county planning, water well advisory, and soil erosion committees. ?Recent service has included the county more than the city,? said mayor Beach Hall, who served as master of ceremonies. ?That?s all right, we?ll still honor him, it?s all community.?

SATURDAY?S CEREMONY, conducted during the city?s annual appreciation banquet at the Water?s Edge Restaurant, was without its honoree as Felax recovers from surgery in a Boston hospital. He is fighting a rare form of lung cancer. Hall said plans to honor Felax were in the works before he became ill. ?A biopsy and other tests have shown that the cancer has not spread,? said Hall. ?There were high hopes that the surgery last Thursday would get all of it, but it was not as successful as hoped.? Because the tumor was so close to the heart, it could not be completely removed, said Hall. ?He is doing as well as expected following his surgery. He will be going into chemotherapy. Sam and his family need your thoughts and prayers.? Councilman Gary Nowak accepted the plaque on behalf of Felax, but broke down after getting only a few words out and gave the microphone back to the mayor. Nowak gained his composure to express gratitude to the city for honoring a ?beautiful friend. If you don?t know him, you are missing something in your life.? Called to the front of the room to be a part of the ceremony were family members Joan Budnik and Keith Felax.

HALL TOLD members of the audience that a website with updates on Felax?s progress has been established by his daughter Wendy Martin. It is at the web address ?caringbridge.org.? Once at the home site, click on the word ?visit? in the box in the upper right corner. On the next page, type DennisFelax on the site name line, with no spaces. It will take

you to a journal, pictures and a guest book. Martin has been updating Felax?s condition daily. On Friday, she told her father he would be receiving the award. ?I told Dad about it tonight, and of course he was humble and did not think he deserved it from the look on his face,? stated Martin. Felax has served as Rogers City Little League president and as a member of the St. John Lutheran Church Board of Trustees. He also is past president of the Wild Turkey Federation. While Felax will receive a plaque, a smaller version will be placed in council chambers at city hall. The last recipient was Dave Nadolsky in 2004.

Before the ceremony, Hall acknowledged Dave McGlone and Bill Halsey for their years of dedication to the city, McGlone with the wastewater treatment plant and Halsey with the fire department. McGlone retires March 15, while Halsey left the department in December. Hall also commended clerk/treasurer Theresa Heinzel and RCHS student Kelsie Kasuba, who has been working at city hall since the beginning of the school year, for organizing the event. To all the paid workers and volunteers Hall said, ?To everybody, a job well done.?